Vince and Linda goin to Paris
Yo. It’s been a minute.
The Dude was back home in Buff for the cribs’ 30th anniversary. We had a huge bbq on Monday. The Cribs treated the extended fam and a few friends to a bangin Sunday brunch at the Skylon, overlookin Niagara Falls.
That’s where me and the sibs gave the Cribs their anniversary present – an 11-day trip to France. Their reactions were typical, indicative of who they are.
Dad is a clueless attention-hoarder. So he spent the first 5 minutes after the gift’s unveiling, crackin jokes and being loud. It took him at least a good 5 to realize he was goin to France, at which he jumped up, shouting like James Brown and giving out group hugs. Sayin things like, “Yall kids is crazy-out-yo-mind-goin-nuts! Yall crazy!” We later find out that he thought we boosted a laminated map of the falls from a gift shop and gave it to them as a joke. Like I said, he’s clueless.
Mom opened the gift. When she saw what it was, she started hyperventilating and crying like an unsuspecting winner at an awards show...better yet, like a woman who got unexpectedly proposed to. I mean, she was literally sobbing and shaking. I got a little teary eyed because it's darn near impossible to see your Moms react like that, unless you were alive when she got proposed to. And because she’s a bourgeoisie snob, she spent the rest of the afternoon butchering the French city names and bragging.
Me and the sibs felt wonderful, though.
Our parents aren’t rich. They didn’t grow up well-off; one might say my Moms was poor. They married at 21 and had Lyd at 22. Then spent the next 15-20 years raising 5 kids. By the mid-90s, Pops got a few raises and made enough duckets to get some credit cards and go into debt takin the fam to Disney World. We went three times as a fam. The first time he took out a second mortgage. The second time he maxed out his cards (and by that time Mom had started working). The third time, me and Lyd both saved for a year to help the fam out…and Pops STILL went into massive debt.
But that’s how it is for young parents of 5. They don’t go on vacations together. They go with the kids. It’s more fun than you can possible imagine, specifically with my fam, but after a while, as grown-up kids, you feel an indebtedness to them. Like, “Yo, u could never buy slick gear or take romantic trips, because u had to provide for us.” That’s a sacrifice that is difficult to grasp, especially for a selfish, 27-year-old bachelor like Twist.
Now, recently, as we’ve all gotten older. They’d do things like spend a weekend in Niagara Falls. They even went on a 5-day cruise for their 28th anniversary. But them two niggas wasn’t hardly traveling abroad.
Not necessarily because they can’t afford it. They can, at this point, with grown kids (though 3 still live at home). It’s just that, the traveling bug never hit em. Well…never hit my Pops. He’d rather call me and caravan to Chicago to catch a jazz nigga than really get into some heavy-duty travel. Moms, on the other hand, being a quasi-snob, always had a jonesing for France.
My sister Lyd speaks fluent French. Even served as a missionary for the Haitians in the Bronx and Westchester County. I always think Moms lived vicariously thru that. Moms would do ridiculous things like sign up for French classes and drop them when it became clear that she was far too old to learn a new language – easily.
Her dream, though, was to go to Paris. Which is why, when I came back from Europe in 2002, she was the most excited to hear stories and see pictures.
She tried on several occasions to get Pops motivated about a trip overseas. That’s big-dough and Pops aint rollin with Gs in the bank. That’s just how it is for a dude that provided for a fam of our size for so long and is still, basically, the sole breadwinner (P and Chris got jobs but Pops refuses to take any type of rent money).
It became increasingly clear that – as a group of grown up siblings – the best present would be to make Moms dream come true. Especially since we knew that Pops would be down, excited even…just that he would never initiate the trip.
So it’s done. They’re going to Paris in March. For all you Buffalonians, please accept my advance apologies for the incessant chatter and bragging you will get from Moms. She can’t help it, she’s excited. And you should be excited for her.
And for everyone else, when I post the pic of Pops in a French beret, drinkin wine at a sidewalk café…we’ll…let’s just wait for it.
The Dude was back home in Buff for the cribs’ 30th anniversary. We had a huge bbq on Monday. The Cribs treated the extended fam and a few friends to a bangin Sunday brunch at the Skylon, overlookin Niagara Falls.
That’s where me and the sibs gave the Cribs their anniversary present – an 11-day trip to France. Their reactions were typical, indicative of who they are.
Dad is a clueless attention-hoarder. So he spent the first 5 minutes after the gift’s unveiling, crackin jokes and being loud. It took him at least a good 5 to realize he was goin to France, at which he jumped up, shouting like James Brown and giving out group hugs. Sayin things like, “Yall kids is crazy-out-yo-mind-goin-nuts! Yall crazy!” We later find out that he thought we boosted a laminated map of the falls from a gift shop and gave it to them as a joke. Like I said, he’s clueless.
Mom opened the gift. When she saw what it was, she started hyperventilating and crying like an unsuspecting winner at an awards show...better yet, like a woman who got unexpectedly proposed to. I mean, she was literally sobbing and shaking. I got a little teary eyed because it's darn near impossible to see your Moms react like that, unless you were alive when she got proposed to. And because she’s a bourgeoisie snob, she spent the rest of the afternoon butchering the French city names and bragging.
Me and the sibs felt wonderful, though.
Our parents aren’t rich. They didn’t grow up well-off; one might say my Moms was poor. They married at 21 and had Lyd at 22. Then spent the next 15-20 years raising 5 kids. By the mid-90s, Pops got a few raises and made enough duckets to get some credit cards and go into debt takin the fam to Disney World. We went three times as a fam. The first time he took out a second mortgage. The second time he maxed out his cards (and by that time Mom had started working). The third time, me and Lyd both saved for a year to help the fam out…and Pops STILL went into massive debt.
But that’s how it is for young parents of 5. They don’t go on vacations together. They go with the kids. It’s more fun than you can possible imagine, specifically with my fam, but after a while, as grown-up kids, you feel an indebtedness to them. Like, “Yo, u could never buy slick gear or take romantic trips, because u had to provide for us.” That’s a sacrifice that is difficult to grasp, especially for a selfish, 27-year-old bachelor like Twist.
Now, recently, as we’ve all gotten older. They’d do things like spend a weekend in Niagara Falls. They even went on a 5-day cruise for their 28th anniversary. But them two niggas wasn’t hardly traveling abroad.
Not necessarily because they can’t afford it. They can, at this point, with grown kids (though 3 still live at home). It’s just that, the traveling bug never hit em. Well…never hit my Pops. He’d rather call me and caravan to Chicago to catch a jazz nigga than really get into some heavy-duty travel. Moms, on the other hand, being a quasi-snob, always had a jonesing for France.
My sister Lyd speaks fluent French. Even served as a missionary for the Haitians in the Bronx and Westchester County. I always think Moms lived vicariously thru that. Moms would do ridiculous things like sign up for French classes and drop them when it became clear that she was far too old to learn a new language – easily.
Her dream, though, was to go to Paris. Which is why, when I came back from Europe in 2002, she was the most excited to hear stories and see pictures.
She tried on several occasions to get Pops motivated about a trip overseas. That’s big-dough and Pops aint rollin with Gs in the bank. That’s just how it is for a dude that provided for a fam of our size for so long and is still, basically, the sole breadwinner (P and Chris got jobs but Pops refuses to take any type of rent money).
It became increasingly clear that – as a group of grown up siblings – the best present would be to make Moms dream come true. Especially since we knew that Pops would be down, excited even…just that he would never initiate the trip.
So it’s done. They’re going to Paris in March. For all you Buffalonians, please accept my advance apologies for the incessant chatter and bragging you will get from Moms. She can’t help it, she’s excited. And you should be excited for her.
And for everyone else, when I post the pic of Pops in a French beret, drinkin wine at a sidewalk café…we’ll…let’s just wait for it.
posted by Twistinado @ 6:49 PM
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